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Impersonation and fake profiles

Short answer

Impersonation is when someone creates an account or profile that uses your name, photos or other details to pass as you. It can be used to deceive your contacts, run scams or harass. Platforms such as Facebook and LinkedIn provide tools to report it, and Facebook's works even if you have no account. Depending on where you live and what the impersonator does, criminal or civil law may also apply.

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Last reviewed

General information, not legal advice. This page has not yet been reviewed by a lawyer; check the linked primary sources before relying on it.

Key takeaways

  • Record the profile address, username and screenshots before you report, because the account may vanish.
  • Report through the platform's own impersonation tool. The platform makes the decision.
  • Warn your contacts from your real account.
  • If money or personal information is involved, report it to the FTC or the FBI's IC3 as well.

What is the problem?

A fake profile borrows an identity to reach other people. The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) warns that romance scammers create fake profiles on dating sites and apps, or make contact through social media sites such as Instagram and Facebook. It advises running a reverse image search on a profile picture to see whether it is associated with another name.

When the profile is of you, the people most at risk are your friends, colleagues and customers, who may trust a message because it seems to come from you.

How does it happen?

An impersonator needs only details that are already public, such as a name and photos, to set up an account that looks like yours. The account then contacts people who know you.

Platforms expect this. Facebook's help pages explain how to report a profile or Page that is pretending to be you or someone else, and LinkedIn's report menu includes the options that a person is impersonating someone and that an account is not a real person.

What laws may apply?

  • Platform rules. Facebook states that profiles and Pages that impersonate other people go against its Community Standards. A report asks the platform to enforce its own rules, and the platform decides.
  • California. Penal Code section 528.5 makes it an offence to knowingly and without consent credibly impersonate another actual person online for purposes of harming, intimidating, threatening or defrauding someone. It is punishable by a fine of up to $1,000, up to one year in county jail, or both, and the person harmed may bring a civil action.
  • US federal rule. An FTC rule announced in February 2024 prohibits falsely posing as a government entity or a business. The FTC asked at the time whether to extend it to impersonation of individuals. Check the FTC's own page, linked in the sources, for whether that extension is now in force.
  • Identity theft. The FTC describes identity theft as someone using your personal or financial information without your permission. If that happens, IdentityTheft.gov provides a recovery plan.
  • Elsewhere. What applies depends on where you live and on what the impersonator did.

What you can do yourself

These steps are free and do not need UltoPulto.

  1. Capture evidence: the profile address, username, screenshots of the profile and messages, and the date.
  2. Facebook: open the profile and choose the option to report it. If you have no account, Facebook's help page links to a contact form.
  3. LinkedIn: on the profile, choose More, then Report / Block, then the option that the person is impersonating someone.
  4. Tell your contacts from your real account that the other one is not you.
  5. Run a reverse image search on your own profile photos to see where else they appear.
  6. If the account is used for a scam, report it at ReportFraud.ftc.gov and to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3).
  7. Protect your real accounts with strong passwords and two-factor authentication.

What UltoPulto can do

  • Formal takedown notices to platforms for impersonation, deepfakes and intimate images.Built
  • Real delivery of notices. A notice is sent only to a contact our team has verified; until then it stays a draft.In rollout
  • An evidence trail on every case: the notice, recipient, legal basis, replies, deadline and status history.Built
  • A follow-up after the deadline, then a regulator complaint draft for you to review and sign.Built
  • Monitoring platforms for fake accounts. Today you report what you find and we send the notice.Planned
  • An exportable evidence dossier for police, courts or regulators.Planned

What UltoPulto cannot do

  • Decide for the platform. It applies its own rules and may refuse, and we record the case as refused.
  • Identify the person behind an account, or recover money sent to an impersonator.
  • Stop a new account from being created after one is taken down.
  • Change what AI systems have learned from public photos. No service can remove a person from an AI model that has already been trained.

Sources

  1. 1Report a Facebook profile or Page pretending to be you or someone elseFacebook Help Center (Meta)Company documentationOpened 2026-10-04
  2. 2Report fake profilesLinkedIn HelpCompany documentationOpened 2026-10-04
  3. 3California Penal Code section 528.5California Legislative InformationLawOpened 2026-10-04
  4. 4New Impersonator Rule gives FTC a powerful tool for protecting consumers and businessesFederal Trade CommissionGovernmentOpened 2026-10-04
  5. 5What To Know About Romance ScamsFederal Trade CommissionGovernmentOpened 2026-10-04
  6. 6What To Know About Identity TheftFederal Trade CommissionGovernmentOpened 2026-10-04
  7. 7Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3)Federal Bureau of InvestigationGovernmentOpened 2026-10-04

Questions

Can I report a fake Facebook profile if I do not have a Facebook account?

Yes. Facebook says that if you do not have an account, or have lost access to it, you can fill out a contact form linked from its Help Center.

Will the impersonator find out that I reported them?

On LinkedIn, no. LinkedIn states that reported members will not know who made the report.

Is online impersonation a crime?

It can be. California, for example, makes it an offence to credibly impersonate a real person online in order to harm, intimidate, threaten or defraud. Other places have different rules.

Someone is using my photos on a dating profile. What should I do?

Save evidence and report the profile to that site or app. The FTC also asks people to report suspected romance scams at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.